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Mexican Avocado Deviled Eggs

If you are looking for a good way to use up some eggs, try this delicious twist on deviled eggs--these are made with avocados and plenty of savory seasoning. They are also mayonnaise free, and contain only healthy fats.

I have included instructions for hard cooking your eggs because it is important to have eggs that are easy to peel. That way, you aren't tearing up the whites, which can be quite frustrating! I have been using this method of boiling eggs for years, and find that the eggs not only peel easier this way, but the yolks will stay a nice bright yellow.

Eggs perfectly boiled will have nice, bright yellow yolks.

To make egg peeling even easier, you can crack the egg all around the entire surface, and then gently roll the egg back and forth between your palm and the counter. This helps to loosen the membrane between the shell and egg, preventing it from sticking to the white.

1. Hard Boil the Eggs: Place the eggs in a large pot and add enough cold water to cover the eggs by about a half inch. Bring the water to a boil over high heat. Once the water has started to boil, immediately remove the pot from the heat and cover. Let sit for 15 minutes. Drain the hot water, and rinse the eggs repeatedly with cold water until they are completely cooled off. Place the eggs in very cold water, or refrigerate, until you are ready to peel them.

2. Peel the hard boiled eggs, rinse them, and pat dry. Cut each egg in half lengthwise, and remove the yolks carefully, keeping the whites in tact. Sometimes if you gently pull the sides of the whites away from the yolks, and gently push the yolk from behind, you can get the yolk to pop out of the white. Place all of the yolks in a medium bowl, and set the whites aside on a serving platter.

3. Add all of the remaining ingredients to the bowl of cooked yolks, except for the shredded cheddar cheese. Mash the ingredients together until a smooth paste forms, and all of the ingredients are thoroughly combined.

4. Using either a plastic baggy with the corner snipped, or a piping bag, squeeze the yolk mixture back into the egg whites. If desired, top each deviled egg with a sprinkling of shredded cheddar cheese.

Since avocados discolor when exposed to the air, these eggs should be served as soon as possible. Keep them tightly covered to prevent discoloring; as an alternative, a small dollop of sour cream could be piped on top of each egg to keep the filling covered, preventing browning.

To avoid clogging and bad odors, sink and tub drains should be periodically cleaned.

A once a month cleaning with a non-toxic, homemade cleaner prevents needing a stronger, usually sodium hydroxide (lye) based, cleaner to remove clogs. Sodium hydroxide is extremely caustic, and will damage the lungs if inhaled, burn skin and eyes, and can be fatal if swallowed. In addition, the heat generated by using sodium hydroxide can soften PVC pipes, and damage old, corroded pipes. It also changes the pH of water and can cause fish kills.

A much nicer alternative to this harsh chemical is the simple combination of baking soda and vinegar, followed with boiling water. When baking soda and vinegar are combined, they foam and expand, cleaning the sides of your pipes and dissolving fatty acids. The boiling water then washes it all away. This method is a great way to use up the box of baking soda in your frig that is not longer doing a good job of deodorizing.

Every little thing you do helps and the small things really do add up. Which is why I have a somewhat creepy tub of soap scraps in my bathroom.

I admit, it seems a little weird to save soap scraps, but it wasn't always this way. In fact, they used to have little contraptions for saving your soap scraps.

But those days are gone. Or are they?

I think frugality is making a comeback--at least, it is around here, because I save all our soap scraps. What do I do with them?

Recycled Soap Scrap Bars

If you are regular users of bar soap, a family of four can easily manage to get six additional bars of soap per year by saving soap scraps. It doesn't seem like much, so I'll write it this way instead: in ten years, that would be 60 bars of "free" soap. There, that seems more impressive.

Ingredients:
Soap scraps
Water
Herbs (optional)

1. Grate or finely chop soap scraps. Measure the amount you end up wi…